Thank you friends for your responses -- and for the warm welcome. As I was reading your responses I thought of a fourth question, namely where the Quranist movement has grown the most. Is it largely confined to N. America and Europe? I have heard from friends here (I am currently living in Lebanon) that there are Qur'aniyyun in Egypt but I am not sure about the movement's spread elsewhere in the Islamic world.

Thank you and God bless! Gabriel

p.s. don't hesitate to let me know if I should start a new thread with this question.

Dear Friends,

I am a professor of Islamic Studies, focusing on the Quran and the religious context of the 7th century Middle East. In scholarly terms I am convinced that the Quran is an ancient text, and that the hadith (and tafsir) come from a later period in Islamic history (at a time when religious rivalry with other groups -- Christians especially -- shaped their development). In personal terms I am a Catholic Christian and a believer in God. I have a high estimation of the Quran, and for all of these reasons I am interested in the Quranist movement. I'd be grateful for some insight regarding the movement. First, what is its relationship with the Submitters movement? Second, does the English term "Quranist" or "Quran-alone" refer to the same group(s) for which the Arabic term "Qur'aniyyun" is used? Third, would Qur'anists generally be open to scholarly studies that involve a discussion of the Quran's relationship with other religious literature of the Middle East (for example, the story of Ashab al-Kahf and the Syriac Christian story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus)? In other words -- would Quranists allow the possibility that the Quran can be better understood by reading earlier religious literature, or would these storts of studies by frowned upon? Thank you for your thoughts!

Gabriel